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Rabbi Chaim Clorfene writes in his popular (and heavily annotated) book, The Path of the Righteous Gentile (p. 42), that B'nei Noach should learn parts of the Torah relevant to their service of God, as well as to the Torah's view on God. He adds that this can be broadly applied, as many areas of Torah "can bring one to greater knowledge concerning the ...

About your second question, defending himself by killing his executioners: Mishneh Lemelech (Hil. Rotze'ach Ushemiras Nefesh 1:15) implies that no. He says that in cases where extrajudicial killing is permitted (e.g., a goel hadam pursuing a murderer, or a zealot attempting to kill a Jew consorting with a gentile woman), then the intended victim may indeed ...

This blessing was instituted in the days of Raban Gamliel when the Jewish heretics (saducees, etc.) of the time posed a direct threat to the nation, the blessing was instituted as an anti-missionary move.
http://www.ou.org/torah/taryag/shemoneh_esrei_12

if she confesses she won't be put to death by Beis Din since you need 2 witnesses for that.
and if there are 2 witnesses then she won't be tested by the sota water, hence there are not 2 witnesses.
therefore, she would be saving her life from the water by confessing and would not be executed by beis din.

As stated above, the death penalty was exceedingly rare.
Just regarding the burning part, fascinatingly the Talmud says that to burn someone at the stake is a violation of "love your fellow like yourself." Instead, a death sentence of "burning" is carried out by pouring molten lead down their throat. Still not fun, but it's seen as I believe less painful ...

First, to clarify, people are not executed completely naked (as noted by HodofHod).
There are two concerns involved here: 1.) Desiring a particular woman, which may lead to promiscuous behavior. 2.) Gazing at a woman with intent to derive pleasure.
In this scenario, concern #1 does not apply because she is being executed. Concern #2 could theoretically be ...

Bamidbar 27:3, quoting Tz'lofchad's daughters, who were seeking land in Israel:
אָבִינוּ מֵת בַּמִּדְבָּר וְהוּא לֹא הָיָה בְּתוֹךְ הָעֵדָה הַנּוֹעָדִים עַל ה׳ בַּעֲדַת קֹרַח כִּי בְחֶטְאוֹ מֵת…‏
Our father died in the desert; he was not among the group who met against God in the group of Korach, but died for his own sin…
The Sifre (ad loc.) ...

According to this article, 40 years before the destruction of the Temple:
Instructive though this is, it is merely an academic discussion, the right of imposing capital punishment having been taken from the Sanhedrin by the Romans a century before, "40 years before the Destruction of the Temple" (Sanh. 41a; TJ, Sanh. 1:18a). The rabbis agreed that with ...

Yes, he's liable. Here's one reason why.
Everyone agrees that a third-party rodef ("pursuer") is not subject to kim lei bideraba minei (apply the greater punishment), as the rodef is not "liable to the death penalty." Rather, we do whatever is necessary to save the "pursued", with lethal force authorized only if needed. The bystander who shoots in the heart ...

Judicial execution is not the same as murder. The same torah that says "do not murder" also calls for the death penalty for certain transgressions, so there must be a difference.
Tractate Sanhedrin discusses capital punishment in a fair bit of detail. There are strict rules, but nonetheless a death sentence is possible and does not violate lo tirtzach.

Rambam, Sanhedrin chapter 19 lists "every thou-shalt-not that has kares and has no death by court and for which one gets lashes" (twenty-one of them, including eating chametz on Pesach).
He then lists eighteen sins for which people are "liable to death at the hands of God", implication being that they don't have kares, such as a non-kohen who ate t'ruma.

I'd like to answer along two dimensions, one about capital punishment and one more broad.
First, it is possible for the conditions to be met under which capital punishment can apply. Tractate Sanhedrin in the talmud discusses in great detail the relevant laws. We know that sentences of capital punishment were carried out in the past. They were rare, with ...

Agreed that a person found guilty should accept their sentence; here's a different source.
There are several different Midrashic explanations to Deuteronomy 25:11-12, involving a woman trying to save her husband. Several say the phrase to save her husband from his fellow excludes either saving him from an agent of the courts (carrying out the death ...

The Talmud in tractate Sanhedrin (Yerushalmi 7:4 Bavli 52b) asks this question. Two answers are given:
1) Rav Yoshiya: Since it is unspecified, it must be the easiest (קל) of deaths. (The Bavli explains this means the easiest of the four deaths known through tradition, following the opinion of the Sages (Mishna Sanhedrin 7:1) that strangulation is the ...

The Rambam writes:
40 years before the destruction of the Temple, capital punishment was nullified among the Jewish people. Although the Temple was still standing, since the Sanhedrin went into exile and were not in their place in the Temple, these laws could not be enforced.
The destruction of the temple was around 70 CE (I believe the Rambam puts it ...

According to Rashi they were not killed. In his commentary to Joshua 7:24, Rashi writes that they were taken to see in order that they not copy his actions. Verse 25 says "וירגמו אותו" - they stoned him, in singular. "וישרפו אותם", they burned them, in plural, Rashi says refers to the tent and other property. "ויסלקו אותם" - they stoned them in plural, ...

No.
The most severe sins warrant the death penalty at the hands of a Sanhedrin if properly warned etc., such as murder and violating shabbos. I believe a subset of those can warrant Karet if done intentionally but unwitnessed.
The next category warrant Karet as a maximum, such as violating Yom Kippur or relations with one's sister. A Sanhedrin could give ...

The Gemara in Sanhedrin 7a says that Aaron's intention was noble. He saw that the Yidden had stoned Chur to death and realised if he opposed them he would meet the same end. By killing Aaron the Jews would commit an unparalleled crime, of Killing a Kohein Venovi. Just take a look at the retribution God exacted for the killing of Zecharyah, a Coheon Venovi. ...

From myjewishlearning.com
According to the Mishnah (Sanhedrin 1:4) the death penalty could only be inflicted, after trial, by a court composed of twenty-three judges and there were four types of death penalties (Sanhedrin 7:1): stoning, burning, slaying (by the sword), and strangling. A bare reading of these and the other accounts in the tractate would ...

Gersonides (Ralbag) is puzzled by this. He offers two answers. The first is that the children were minors, and that they consequently came under the category of Achen's property, with regard to the punishment. We must then say that the verse in Deuteronomy takes apllies only once the child becomes an adult by Jewish Law. This would appear consistent with the ...